The Choir of Salisbury Cathedral, under the direction of David Halls, perform Samuel Sebastian Wesley's Easter anthem 'Blessed Be the God and Father.'
Wesley wrote the anthem for an Easter Sunday evensong at Hereford Cathedral, which at the time had only treble voices and a lone bass—the Dean's butler, according to legend—available. Such an arrangement accounts for the substantial treble solo / split treble chorus at the heart of the piece. The dialogue between trebles and treble soloist is sometimes performed alone under the name 'Love One Another' and was, led by former St Paul's Cathedral chorister Anthony Way, featured prominently in the 1995 BBC adaptation of Joanna Trollope's novel 'The Choir'.
[ Text: ]
Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ,
which according to his abundant mercy
hath begotten us again unto a lively hope
by the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead,
To an inheritance incorruptible, and undefiled,
that fadeth not away,
reserved in heaven for you,
Who are kept by the power of God
through faith unto salvation
ready to be revealed at the last time.
But as he which hath called you is holy,
so be ye holy in all manner of conversation.
Pass the time of your sojourning here in fear.
Love one another with a pure heart fervently.
See that ye love one another.
Love one another with a pure heart fervently:
Being born again,
not of corruptible seed,
but of incorruptible,
by the word of God.
For all flesh is as grass,
and all the glory of man
as the flower of grass.
The grass withereth,
and the flower thereof falleth away.
But the word of the Lord endureth for ever.
Amen.
[ Recording available on the disk 'Best-Loved Anthems from Salisbury' (Priory, 2007). ]
